Jungle Fever
by TheBillFanatic1994
Summary: Ollie Biers was on flight 815 when it crashed onto the island. Amidst the panic & the fear & the prolonged seperation from the most important thing to her in the world, Ollie, finds herself drawn to Sawyer, the island's resident bad guy. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

Water lapped at my face, I spluttered a little at the salty taste. My eyes felt weak, but I pried my eyelids open anyway. My face was half turned into the sand. Sand? I was on a plane, on my way to L.A, why was I lying on sand. This wasn't right.

A deep whirring, that was loud and frightening, blared through the air. What was that? It sounded like an engine. I was deafening. I could hear screams too, filled with pain and confusion and fear. What the hell was going on?

I was lying in an awkward position. My legs were twisted at odd angles, not enough to be broken but enough for shots of pain to flood them. One of my arms was under my body, while the other was tucked under my neck. I rolled onto my back and straightened out my legs, gritting my teeth against the pain. I pulled my arm out from under my body and forced myself into a sitting position. I blinked twice, just to make sure that I was really seeing what I saw.

It was much worse than I could have imagined. It was carnage. Not far from me was an engine, the plane's engine? No, it couldn't be. But what other explanation was there. It was wedged in the sand, and the fan propellers were still trying to spin, baking the sand. Parts of the plane, Oceanic flight 815, were scattered all around me. There were people, the other passengers from the plane I assumed, all around too. Some were running around trying to help those lying injured on the floor. While others, just stood there, shell shocked with blank expressions on their faces, like they were looking at something different than the rest of us.

A man, with short black hair and a torn, ragged black suit, thundered as best he could through the pale sand. He skidded to a stop in front of me.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"I…I think I'm ok" I mumbled.

He offered me his hand to pull me to my feet. I grasped his hand, and he yanked me up. My legs wobbled as soon as I was standing and I feel sideways. Pins and needles shot up my legs. The man grabbed me before I could fall over completely. He threw my arm over his shoulder and gripped my waist. He helped me hobble over to a big hunk of the plane. I rested against it; my head was hurting, pounding and throbbing repetitively. I closed my eyes to try and stop my head from hurting. My legs too were burning and numb all at the same time.

I forced my eyes to open and looked down at myself. My sun dress, that originally was pale pink and reached my knees, was dirty and scorched from fire, and was cut and torn so badly that in places it only reached my mid thigh. There was a large cut on my arm and I was sure I could feel blood on my face.

"I'm Jack Shepherd. I'm a doctor" Jack said.

"Ollie Biers" I mumbled "I'm a college student by day, a cleaner by night"

He laughed at my copying before sobering up.

"Ok, Ollie, stay with me ok" Jack said as my eyelids drooped, "I'm going to check you over, ok?"

I nodded my agreement vaguely. Jack held his finger in front of my face and made me follow it with my eyes; even I admit that I was a little fuzzy and slow in following him. The pain in my head was easing a little. He then knelt down and checked over my legs. I held myself up on the metal. My eyelids closed a little more.

"Ollie? Look at me" Jack said, snapping his fingers to get my attention. My eyes reluctantly opened. "You've got a concussion, and your legs are chewed up pretty bad".

Jack looked grim, I focused on his face to keep myself awake. His eyes seemed to be older than him, like they alone carried the weight of the world. They seemed to have some sort of wisdom in them. He ran his hand through his short hair.

"I'm sorry, Ollie, but there's not much I can do for you. Just be careful when you walk and don't fall asleep until I tell you its ok"

"Yes, Doc" I mumbled sleepily, giving him a quick salute.

"Don't fall asleep!" Jack repeated.

Jack glanced back along the beach amidst the wreckage and the smoke. People were stumbling around, cut and bleeding. Further down the beach, a girl with long blonde hair and a big, pregnant belly was bent over double. Jack's eyes whipped me and the girl. He was clearly torn between us, unsure of who needed him more. I forced myself to think properly and to form words.

"Go, Jack. She's pregnant, she needs you, go, Jack" I told him, squinting my eyes as the bright sunlight hurt my head more.

Jack nodded and rushed off down the beach. I pushed myself up so that I was standing on my own two feet without the support of the metal. I steadied myself before wobbling further along the beach, towards Jack and the pregnant girl. I was passing the failing engine again. There was a man standing in front of it, just standing. I wobbled towards him.

"Are you ok?" I called to him as I got closer to the engine and to the man.

Suddenly, the engine's noise got louder, more of a woofing sound as the fans moved faster and faster. Fire erupted from the engine and the propeller fans moved so fast that I couldn't differentiate between them.

"Ollie!" I heard Jack shout, I looked to see him racing back up the beach towards me, "move away from the engine! Move away from the engine, Ollie"

Out of nowhere, a man ran at me, knocking me backwards out of the way of the engine. We fell, my legs giving way beneath me, as the man who'd been standing in front of the engine was sucked into the fan. The fan whirred and cramped, moving back and forth but not managing to spin completely. But then with a squish and a series of awful, blood curdling crack, the fans moved again before finally stopping in an explosion of fire. There were screams all around me before a silence took over. I felt physically sick.

"Thank you" I said quietly to the man who was still looming over me.

I couldn't really move. My legs were beneath the man's and my arms were tucked against my chest. The man's hair fell over his face but I could still see his bright green eyes and tanned skin. He was good looking, I had to admit, but this really wasn't the time.

He stood back up, pulling me back up with him. His clothes were torn, just like everybody else's.

"Thank you" I repeated "I'm Ollie Biers"

He didn't smile exactly, it was more of a smirk, but my belly did that stupid flip flop thing that I hadn't felt in such a long time. It was stupid, I know that, but it made me a little self conscious; I could feel my cheeks flushing pink. I hated how easily I blushed sometimes.

"Sawyer" he replied.

"Ollie, are you ok?" Jack asked me as he reached us.

"Yeah I'm fine, Sawyer here knocked me out of the way" I smiled, although my head was still beating like a drum and my legs were still painful.

"How's the pregnant girl?" I asked. She must have been terrified.

"She's ok; I've left someone with her. I just hope rescue comes quickly" Jack sighed.

I looked around at the chaos that surrounded me: bodies on the ground, fire, water crashing against metal, people crying, people helping one another. I turned back to Sawyer and Jack, focusing my thoughts woozily.

"So do I, Jack" I murmured "so do we all"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

No-one had come to rescue us. We'd been on the island for a good twenty four hours now, and we'd had no word from anyone outside of the island. I was worried, I'd expected rescue by now.

Things were a little calmer than they were when we first crashed. Jack had done all he could for the injured, unfortunately we lost a few people; there was nothing he could have done. I helped Jack, I couldn't do much for those who were badly hurt but I could help with the minor stuff. My mom had been a nurse right up until I was fifteen, right up until she died. When she was alive she taught me bits and pieces, by the time I was three I knew how to put someone in the recovery position, and by ten I was an expert on the Heimlich manoeuvre. There was one man, who even Jack was struggling to fix, the U.S Marshall. There was a lot of suspicion going around camp as to who he was escorting. He had shrapnel wounds from the plane crash, or at least that was what Jack told us. I'd been to see the Marshall. I didn't think he was going to make it.

We'd made make shift tents from what we could salvage from the wreckage. Jack had people searching for medical supplies. Luckily, I managed to find my suitcase and although some things had gotten a little wet, it was all pretty salvageable. My dress wasn't really suitable for the island, and it was pretty messed up already. In my "tent", if you could really call a bit of tarp thrown over some sticks and metal a tent, I changed into some khaki cut offs and a t-shirt; something a little more island worthy.

Many of us had banded together to form some sort of team of workers. We found as much luggage as we could and found their owners; if the owner was dead we sorted through the cases to find what was useful to us. It felt bad to me, like we were being disrespectful. It was bad to go through somebody's belongings when they were alive, I was sure that it was worse when they were dead. I worked a lot with Boone, he was good looking but I can't really say I found myself attracted to him. He wasn't my type, but he was easy to get a long with and that was good enough for me.

It had been pretty scary the day before; there was this loud roaring sound coming from the jungle. We'd all frozen; Walt had wrapped his arms around his Labrador, Vincent. And everyone else wasn't really sure how to act. Trees crashed to the ground without us seeing why. We'd all thought that this island was pretty safe, that rescue was imminent, but this was something new, this was something dangerous. I wasn't sure how I felt about this wild creature in the jungle thing, but there was no way I was going to go into the jungle on my own.

"How are we going to get off this island? What if rescue doesn't come?" I asked Jack and Kate.

Kate Austen was one of the passengers, just like the rest of us. She seemed nice enough but I'd never been the best judge of character. It seemed clear to me that Jack and Kate were attracted to each other. I'd smiled knowingly when I'd seen them earlier. At least this stupid crash onto this stupid island might be good for somebody.

"I don't know, Ollie" Jack sighed "it has only been twenty four hours since the crash, rescue will come for us.

He didn't sound so sure, and his eyes, they didn't seem to believe in what he was saying either. Kate was quiet, deep in thought, twirling a lock of brown hair around her finger and her brow was furrowed in thought.  
>"What's up, Kate?" I asked.<p>

"I've got an idea" Kate mumbled, jumping up from the log from which she was sitting on.

Jack and I stood up too. A few others who were nearby were watching her too: Charlie, Michael, Walt. My heart squeezed tight at the sight of Walt; he was just a kid, he shouldn't be stuck here on the island, just a kid. My hand automatically moved to the left pocket of my cut offs. I rested my hand against the outside, I couldn't feel it in my pocket, small and square and thin. It wasn't there. My heart clenched once more. Panic surged through me. No, I chastised myself, don't think about it, don't think about her.

"The plane crashed, right? And split into pieces. In the pilot's cockpit you'd be able to contact someone, right?" Kate rushed.

Charlie, a former rock star, came over. He was a bit out there but he seemed sweet; yet there was still something about him that concerned me, I wasn't sure what it was but there was something.

"It's like that black box thing, isn't it?" Charlie chipped in.

"They have a transceiver" Jack conceded after mulling over the idea, "if we can find the cockpit, and find the transceiver, then what do we do? I'm a Doctor, not an electrician"

"We'll worry about that when the time comes" Kate said decisively.

It was decided that there would be a hike into the jungle to find the cockpit, and to find the transceiver. Kate and Jack were both up for it, and Charlie had volunteered too. Kate went to get her rucksack and Charlie disappeared off to God knows where.

"I'm coming too, I want to find this transceiver" I started, wobbling a little as I followed Jack back to his tent.

"You're struggling to walk, Ol. Anyway, I need someone to stay here to watch the Marshall and to keep an eye on Claire. Hurley's been watching her but I'm sure she'd enjoy some female company" Jack explained as he stuffed a bottle of water and some mangoes into his pack "and, try and watch Sawyer for me, make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble"

I grinned.

"I'll do my best, Doc" I enthused, saluting.

"We haven't got much medicine or alcohol to give the Marshall; Sawyer might have some but…give him these if the pain gets worse. It's a strong sedative, it should help" Jack instructed.

"You better get going, Jack. Find the transceiver for me" I smiled.

Jack hugged me, it wasn't romantic or anything. I didn't think of him that way, and I was pretty sure that he didn't feel that way about me either. It was a friendly hug, the type you might give to your brother or a close friend.

"I'll see you later" I murmured "look after Kate and Charlie for me"

"See you later" he mumbled as we pulled apart.

He headed off to meet Kate and Charlie and I tried to prepare myself for seeing the Marshall. It wasn't that I was particularly squeamish or anything, I'd seen many things in my eighteen years of life. But this was different; I'd never seen someone who was dying before.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and walked firmly towards the tent where the Marshall was. I could hear him groaning and crying out in pain.

"You can do this, Ollie" I told myself out loud "you can do this"

Without another thought I pushed back the canvas, knelt down and crawled into the tent. The Marshall was lying on the floor in top of some sheets and towels that Michael and Walt had found for him. His face had a layer of sweat on it, and his jaw was clenched as he fidgeted.

"Try and stay still" I told him as I unscrewed the lid of a water bottle "drink this.

I slid my arm under his head and lifted him slightly. I tricked the water into his mouth and eventually he swallowed.

"I've got some tablets, if you want them?" I said, he nodded his head a little.

I read the instructions on the lid: take no more than two every four hours. I popped the lid of the container and shook out two of the little red tablets. I edged closer to the Marshall and lifted his head once more.

"Here you go" I muttered as I placed the tablets on his tongue and washed them down with a swish of water.

I cleaned his wounds as best I could and redressed them with the bandages that Jack had left beside him. I didn't like doing it, but I did because he needed it doing. It had to be done. I sat beside the Marshall as he slept fitfully for an hour or so before I crawled back out onto the sand. I was momentarily blinded by the strength of the sunlight, but once I could once again see straight I pushed myself up so was standing and hobbled away from the Marshall's tent.

"Finished playing nurse?" Sawyer asked mockingly, that ever present smirk on his face, as he sauntered out of the jungle, mango in hand.

I rolled my eyes and then glared at him.

"Someone's got to do it, Sawyer" I told him.

"And that someone is you? So Jack, Kate and Charlie get to go into the jungle, everyone else gets to relax on the beach – and you, my friend, get to wipe snot bubbles from the good Marshall's nose" Sawyer taunted in that accent of his.

Ye, that accent; I loved it and hated it. I loved it because it made my heart flutter like an idiot. And I hated it for the exact same reason. And it made it impossible for me to ever be angry with him.

"Can I help you with something, Sawyer?" I said hesitantly.

"Nah" he drawled "just thought you might want this"

Tauntingly, he pulled a bag out from behind his back. My bag, my carry on bag. My heart soared, it would be in there. I reached towards it but Sawyer pulled it away from me.

"Ah, ah, ah, Sunshine; I don't think so" Sawyer grinned, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Sawyer" I warned, placing my hands on my hips, "give me my bag"

"Finders keepers, Sunshine"

"Sawyer, that bag belongs to me. Please just give it to me" I pleaded.

My eyes were tearing up, but I wasn't going to cry, not in front of Sawyer. He watched me for a moment, sighed and muttered something under his breath, before holding the bag out to me once more. I near enough ripped the bag out of Sawyer's hand. I slumped onto the floor, not caring that Sawyer was standing there in front of me. I yanked the zip along the teeth and pulled everything out onto the sand: a couple of books, passport, plane ticket, cell phone, a fleece, my purse. And then, right at the bottom, the little square photograph. I held it gently between my fingers. This time the tears did leak over; my baby girl, my Leah.

Taking control of myself, I packed up my bag, wiped my tears and slipped my photo into my left pocket where it belonged. I stood up and crossed the small expanse of sand between Sawyer and I. I hugged him, tightly. This hug was different to my hug with Jack, this had a different meaning to it, I just didn't know what.

"Thank you, Sawyer" I whispered into his shirt.

I just want to thank "audreydarke96" for reviewing my fanfic :) it means a lot and inspired me to write the second chapter! SO please people, more reviews! :D


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for your continued support of this fic :) please review and enjoy!

Chapter 3

"Hey, Claire" I smiled, sinking into the sand next to her, "how are you feeling today?"

Claire leaned back in the sand a little, resting on one elbow while her other hand mindlessly skimmed over her pregnant belly. I liked Claire, she was the same age as me, and her situation was familiar to me.

"I'm feeling ok, but the baby hasn't moved in a while, I'm sure he is ok though" Claire explained, chewing on her bottom lip.

"He?"

"Yeah I think so, the baby just feels like a boy, you know?"

"Yeah I do" I murmured.

"If you still can't feel the baby moving when Jack gets back, speak to him about it. But I'm sure everything is fine" I told her, squeezing her hand.

We sat in easy quiet for a while; Claire's eyes were closed as she lay back in the sand. I sat with my chin resting on my knees, thinking about what was going on in the real world. It is funny how I thought about things, everything that wasn't the island was the "real world", and the island was something else. What exactly the island was in my mind I'm not sure.

I wandered the beach for a while before returning to my tent. I was pretty nervy, I wanted Jack, Kate and Charlie to be back. I wanted them to be back and to have that transceiver working. I just wanted to go home or at least go to L.A where I originally intended.

"They're back!" I heard someone shout, and heard dozens of feet pounding against the sand.

I crawled out of my tent and followed the crowd of survivors, jogging on their heels, towards the jungle boundary. Kate, Jack and Charlie stumbled out of the trees. Jack's face was hard, Kate didn't look happy and Charlie looked like he was going to be sick. Dread rolled through me, what had happened? From out of his pack, Jack pulled out a bulky looking radio type thing.

"Does anyone know how to work this thing?" Kate called out.

Sayid stepped forward.

"I can take a look" Sayid said.

"What would you know about it?" Sawyer asked, arms folded across his chest.

"I was a Communications officer in the Republican guard" Sayid stated.

Jack passed the transceiver to Sayid before walking away towards the Marshall's tent. Kate just shook her head lightly before moving to watch Sayid mess with the transceiver. I followed Jack to the Marshall's tent; I wouldn't be any help to Sayid.

"How is he? Did I do the bandages ok?" I asked Jack as I crawled into the tent behind him.

Quietly, Jack checked him over and gave him so more little red tablets and water. Jack leaned back and smiled at me.

"Yeah, these bandages are fine, Ollie. Thank you for helping with this today. Did Sawyer act up?"

"Nope, he was fine. Claire seemed good too, well she said she couldn't feel the baby move but that's fine now. Everything was pretty good – except the whole stranded on a desert island thing" I joked.

Jack smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"What happened in the jungle?" I asked him.

"We found the cockpit, and the pilot. He was alive. He said we were thousands of miles off course before we even got told to put our seat belts on. The transceiver is broken, even the God damn pilot didn't know how to fix it" Jack exclaimed, slamming his fist into the blanket covered sand.

"Where is he?"  
>"He was killed" Jack said bluntly.<p>

"Killed?" I whispered "by what?"

"I don't know. We heard crashing and banging in the jungle, and then something only God knows what…plucked…him out of the plane. We ran and found him hanging from a tree, dead, and covered in blood"

"Mama! Mama!" screamed a girl no older than five, I didn't recognise her, I didn't have a clue who she was.

"I don't know where your Mama is" I tried to explain to the girl, which just made her scream even more.

"You're my Mama" she howled; red rage colouring her cheeks and hardening her eyes at such a young age.

"I'm not your Mama, I'm not your Mama" I repeated over and over before the girl disappeared and her form was taken by that of Leah's.

"You're not my Mama" she said indignantly "you'll never be my Mama"

"I'm sorry, Leah, I'm sorry" I cried over and over like a mantra.

I woke up screaming, my throat burning and with hands shaking me awake. My breathing was coming in pants and my heart was racing like a stampede. I blinked rapidly, faces blurred into my vision. Jack, Kate and Claire were hovering above me; Claire's belly was protruding out close to me, it brought back memories of the nightmare. In the doorway I could see many of the other survivors, including Sawyer. He actually looked pretty worried about me, which weirdly made me feel self conscious.

"It's just a dream, Ol, You're ok" Claire said soothingly, rubbing my arm as my breathing tried to right itself.

"Thanks, Claire" I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Drink this" Kate instructed kindly, handing over a bottle of water.

I sipped at the water, I felt pretty sick. But I drank it all the same; I didn't want to get sick on a desert island; that would be just my luck.

"I'm ok, really I am" I said quietly, trying to smile, "go back to bed, I'm sorry I woke all of you"

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Jack. Honestly, I'm fine" I lied.

"I'll stay with Ollie, Jack" Claire smiled "I don't mind sharing her tent for the night"

"Thanks, Claire" I murmured.

The others cleared out, Kate squeezed my hand, Jack gave me a hug, and Sawyer even gave me a smile. I smiled weakly back. He did seem genuinely concerned for me; then again, everyone seemed concerned for me. I was a comforted about that, it consoled me a little. I was stranded on an island, but I at least had people who cared about me.

I lay back down and smoothed out the beach towel that I was using as a duvet cover. Claire lay down beside me, shifting at a funny angle so that she could get comfy and so she could sleep better. I smiled sadly to myself. When I was pregnant with Leah, I was pretty much nocturnal. At night, I wouldn't be able to sleep, and for hours I would wander aimlessly around the house with a hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other. Then, when I finally got to sleep it would be nearly four in the morning.

"Thanks for this, Claire" I told her.

"Everyone needs someone sometimes, Ollie" Claire shrugged, smiling lightly at the tent covered sky.

We both were quiet, falling asleep with sound of the sea lapping on the sand outside the shelter of my rickety tent.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for reviewing and for adding me to story/author alerts :) please continue :D

Rachel x

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 4 <span>

The next morning came too quickly for me, I knew without checking the compact in my carry on bag that I would have serious dark circles under my eyes. I crawled out of my tent, bleary eyed, and stifled a yawn with the back of my hand as I pulled myself into a standing position.

I stretched my body out to loosen my locked muscles and clicked my neck. I grabbed a bottle of water from my tent and headed further up the each to where I could see a few people gathering. As I got closer, I saw that Sawyer was there. My stomach did the flip thing again. To be fair, he wasn't the only one there, but he the one I noticed first. Then I saw that Kate, Shannon, Boone, Charlie and Sayid were also there.

"What's going on?" I asked Sayid, who seemed to be organising the group.

"We're going into the jungle to get a signal for the transceiver, we need to be on higher ground" Sayid explained.

"I'll come with you" I told him firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. Sayid nodded his agreement.

Sayid nodded once.

"Meet back here in five minutes and then we'll get to higher ground" Sayid instructed.

We all nodded, even Sawyer. I saw Kate and Jack share an icy glare. I wondered what was going on there, but it wasn't really any of my business what was going on between those two.

I quickly went back to my tent, grabbed some water and fruit and packed them into a spare rucksack I'd managed to scrounge.

"Let's go" Sayid instructed.

We set off into the jungle; Sawyer hung back, not really wanting to get too involved in the conversations that were going on around him. Shannon and Boone seemed to be bickering, when weren't they bickering? I wasn't in the mood for small talk so I kept myself to myself, every now and then thumbing the photograph in my pocket.

We walked for about a kilometre and a half before we heard a God awful roaring sound. We all stopped, frozen. A look of recognition passed across Kate's face.

"Run!" she yelled, and we did.

Everyone seemed to split up in different directions, I ran and tripped my way through the jungle, pushing branches out of my way as I went. I could hear bullets being fired nearby and I flinched. And then suddenly, I was pulled sideways into the undergrowth. Without loosening his grip on my waist, Sawyer raised his other hand that held a gun, and pointed it towards the thunderous sounds. For a second nothing happened and then the crashing was getting closer. Without realising, I pressed myself closer to Sawyer, and he tightened his hold on me. Out of the trees crashed a polar bear, and honest to God polar bear.

Sawyer didn't flinch, didn't seem shocked or scared, no, instead he just fired until the beast, the polar bear, lay dead on the floor. Panting a little from shock, I clung to Sawyer for support.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

I nodded, not trusting my voice to behave as it should. Instinctually, I touched the photo in my pocket before letting out the breath that I hadn't realised I'd been holding.

Sayid, Kate, Charlie, Boone and Shannon crashed though the trees towards us, and Sawyer let his arm drop off my waist. I tried not to feel hurt by this, it wasn't a personal insult, it wasn't meant to hurt me. It really, really wasn't.

"Is that…a polar bear?" Boone asked.

"No, it's a chipmunk" Sawyer taunted, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head mockingly.

Boone and Sawyer tensed up, ready for a testosterone fuelled fist fight. But Sawyer had a gun in his hand which made it that little bit more dangerous.

"What is a polar bear doing in the jungle?" Boone asked.

"I haven't got a clue, its crazy. All of this is crazy" I said, shaking my head.

"How much higher do we have to go, Sayid?" I asked, trying to steer everyone's attention onto more important matters.

"Higher yet" Sayid answered.

We climbed higher for a good few more kilometres. I was too hot and my vest top was clinging to me, as were my shorts. Finally, huffing and puffing and reading to collapse, we reached a point which Sayid deemed to be high enough. As the rest of us took a quick swig of water from our packs, Sayid turned on the transceiver. It buzzed a little, picking up static. We all let out a sigh of disappointment before a voice began playing.

It was French, of that I was sure, but I couldn't be sure what it was saying. We all stood in silence, listening to the woman on a loop; our hopes soaring and dashing at the same time.

"What is that?" Charlie asked eventually.

"Does anyone speak French?" Sayid asked.

"Shannon does!" Boone exclaimed excitedly "she lived in Paris!"

"I don't speak French, Boone, not well. And that was years ago" Shannon argued.

"I speak a little" I interrupted "high school French, you know"

Shannon reached for the transceiver and held it between the two of us. I closed my eyes and listened to the words of the French women. I tried to dredge up my high school French lessons, but I hadn't taken part in them since I was sixteen and even then I wasn't amazing. My mum had taught me a little too. For a moment, Shannon held the transceiver to her ear. She squeezed her eyes shut with concentration.

"It killed them" Shannon translated.

"It killed them all" I finished.

Sayid suggested we set up camp for the night; there was no point in hiking through the jungle in the middle of the night. We'd set up camp, and then Sayid told us the earth shattering news that the French woman's message had been playing on a loop for sixteen years.

After deciding that it was best not to tell the other back in camp, we sat around the campfire; Sawyer sitting on the outside. We ate the shellfish that Jin had prepared for us and some mangoes from our packs.

There was an argument over who should look after the gun that Sawyer had lifted from the Marshall's belongings. Sayid didn't trust Sawyer with the gun, and Sawyer didn't trust Sayid. I didn't want it; I didn't know how to use it. Shannon certainly wasn't going to get her hands on it; she was even less of a candidate than I was. Boone wasn't keen, so that left Kate. She seemed reluctant at first but eventually gave in and took it. I was glad that neither Sawyer nor Sayid had the gun; one of them could easily get hurt. Or at least that's what I told myself, really. I was more worried about Sawyer's well being than Sayid's.

It wasn't long before we lay down on the floor to go to sleep. Kate and Charlie had sleeping bags, and Sayid, Boone and Shannon were wrapped in blankets. Soon, they were asleep. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I tossed and turned, I could not fall asleep. Sawyer was lying next to me, that didn't help. He had his eyes closed but I couldn't tell if he was really asleep, but what wouldn't he be?

"Urgh" I groaned, rolling over and climbing to my feet.

I shuffled to the glowing embers of the fire, and sat down on the log. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my photograph. I let out a huff of breath. I didn't have many pictures of Leah, and this was the only one that I had on the island. I had a few back home but even then I didn't have very many there either, only the ones Trina sent me. I didn't cry this time; I just looked at the picture, running my finger across Leah's face every now and then.

"So" Sawyer drawled, collapsing onto the log beside me, "who's the kid, your sister?"

Startled, I jumped a little before smiling hesitantly at him, my heart fluttering a little.

"Leah" I said quietly, showing him the photo, "my daughter"

"Daughter?" he said, looking a little taken aback.

I smiled wryly, I was used to the shock; and then the look was usually followed by a look of disgust.

"Yep, my daughter" I nodded "she's going to be two next week"

"You don't look old enough to have a kid" Sawyer mumbled.

"Well, I do. I'm eighteen…it's always possible"

"True, true, Sunshine" Sawyer grinned.

I smiled.

"I'm not really a fan of the name 'Sunshine'" I remarked, slipping the photo back into my pocket.

Sawyer grinned again, eyes sparkling, with mischievousness.

"Why, Sunshine, that's just mean"

I chuckled lightly.

"Mean is my middle name"

We sat there in silence, side by side, our bodies almost touching. It felt nice. I'd sworn off men, or at least the bad boy type long ago, but her I was, acting like my pre-Leah self once more. I mentally slapped myself, I shouldn't even be entertaining the idea, but here I was. I shuffled a little closer and rested my head on his shoulder. Surprisingly, he didn't flinch away or shrug me off. Instead, he pulled me a little closer. We didn't say anything but that was ok, I liked this.


	5. Chapter 5

_Ok, here's the next chapter :) thank you for reviewing and for adding me to story alerts and favourite. Please read and review! :D _

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><p><span>Chapter 5 <span>

A few days passed since the incident with Sawyer in the jungle, and life on the island wasn't exactly quiet. When we'd got back to camp, Kate told Jack about the French woman's distress call, and then as I talked back towards my tent I'd heard heated words between the pair; I don't know what was said but they didn't seem happy with each other.

Sawyer and I seemed to avoid each other and to be honest, I needed the thinking space, I needed to clear my head. But that didn't stop me from checking him out every time I saw him, or to stop my heart from beating out a samba as he walked past.

Although we'd agreed not to tell anyone about the polar bear, I had to tell Jack. He hadn't believed me at first but when Boone and Kate confirmed it, he laughed bitterly and shook his head. That was the end of it.

It seemed there was a system starting on the island of who did what job. Some people ventured into the jungle to collect fruit for the group. Jin caught fish, even Hurley and Charlie had a go when they'd fashioned pointy sticks – however the less said about that the better. Jack, Boone, myself and a few others, took on board the more gruesome task of moving the dead to the fuselage. It was Jack's idea, we didn't really want bodies lying everywhere, it sounds horrible, but who wants to be stranded on a desert island surrounded by bodies? It sounds like the stuff of nightmares when you put it like that.

It was late that afternoon when the scary stuff happened – or at least it seemed scary at the time. We'd heard this rustling, beast-like sound coming from the fuselage. We thought it was the monster from the jungle – even that sounds pathetic, 'monster'. But that's for another day. Anyway, we were all pretty scared. Someone, and I don't know who, shouted 'run!". We all began running around like idiots; Locke was the only one who kept his cool.

"It's just a wild boar" he told us later, our panic all seemed stupid then.

But this incident got us all thinking; we couldn't just leave the bodies rotting in the fuselage, acting as snacks for the local wildlife population. It was Jack who suggested we burned the bodies, and everyone, including myself, agreed with him. It was almost disrespectful to the dead not to. So we planned to set fire to the fuselage at sundown.

We were running out of food too. Locke, Michael and Kate were going into the jungle to find some wild boar for us to eat. Locke had shocked us all when he'd opened up his suitcase to reveal hunting knives, lots of hunting knives.

"Be careful out there" I told Kate as I hugged her goodbye.

"I will" she said and then with a wink, she laughed, "have fun with Sawyer".

I blushed tomato red.

I spent the rest of the day sitting around the camp with Claire and Boone. Alongside Jack and Kate – and probably Sawyer – these two were my favourite survivors. Claire was so nice and friendly, and so like myself in many ways; while Boone was just a nice guy who I could talk with easily. I tried to make myself think of him in a more romantic light, but every time that I tried, an image of sawyer would pop up in my mind.

It wasn't long, maybe a couple of hours before Michael and Kate turned up at camp. Michael was hurt but it wasn't too bad. Jack patched him up as best he could. Everyone was pretty shocked when Kate said that Locke was going after the boar alone. I doubted that he'd be back; I'd seen some of the things the creatures of the island could do.

We shouldn't have doubted Locke, he returned, limping a little, with a dead boar for us to eat. It wasn't an ideal meat source but we were all ecstatic at actually having some food to eat.

After our food, and when the sun was going down, I stood on the beach with the rest of the survivors, the darkness lit by the wild flames of the burning fuselage. Claire was reading the names of the dead of the planes' manifest. She looked like she was about to break into floods of tears at any moment. I too felt like crying.

It seemed like every day brought a new problem for us, on the sixth day, the problem was fresh water. We didn't have much left, in fact we were near enough out of all it together. We only had four small bottles between just over forty survivors. My mouth seemed to be constantly cracked and my throat constantly dry. Locke offered to go into the jungle to search for a fresh water supply, I offered too but after Jack ran off I knew it was best I stayed in case anyone needed medicine – Jack had sort of trained me up a little so in case the worst happened I'd have at least a little knowledge on what tablets to give to people.

Really, it was a good job I stayed behind. Claire collapsed, it was beyond scary. One minute she was talking to Kate, then the next she was lying on the floor.

"Claire! Claire!" we both shouted, shaking her.

"Get her some water, Kate" I said as Claire's eyelid fluttered.

Kate raced to where the remainder of the water was being kept. I turned away from the spray of the sand she kicked my way as she ran.

"Ollie, it's all gone" Kate shouted to me.

Panic coursed through me. No water, no water, ran through my head as if it were on a loop. What would we do without water? I didn't think I could bear thinking about the possibility of death from dehydration.

"What?" I shouted back "there were four bottles left this morning"

"Well there aren't any here now" Kate exclaimed.

"Watch her" I shot at Charlie, and jogged to the storage tent where Kate was standing.

I peered inside, and then crawled in, hurling the backpacks, bits of fruit and articles of clothing around until I finally admitted defeat. There was no water.

"Don't say I told you so" I mumbled.

"Sawyer!" Kate suddenly exclaimed.

Without explaining, Kate set off down the beach towards Sawyer's tent, enlisting the help of Sayid on her way. I straggled behind, not sure whether I was needed more with Claire or with Kate and Sayid. I'm ashamed to admit that I was too cowardly to go to see Sawyer with Kate and Sayid.

"I'll stay with Claire" I shouted before turning on my heel and jogging back down the beach towards Claire.

Claire was awake and sitting up but her face was as white as a sheet. Charlie and Sun were sitting next to her. I smiled softly and kneeled in front of her. I racked my brains, trying to dredge up something that my mom or Jack had told me that could help Claire. Unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything.

"Kate and Sayid are trying to get you some water, ok?" I told her.

"Thank you" she said hoarsely "I'm really hot"

"Let's get you into the shade" I said, gesturing to Sun and Charlie to help me move her further up the beach to the outskirts of the jungle where it was considerably cooler.

As we settled Claire, I saw Sayid and Kate walking towards us. They didn't have any water.

"Sawyer didn't have any?" I called.

"He says he doesn't" Sayid started.

"But he traded some with Jin yesterday, he must have a stash. He won't even share with a pregnant lady! How pathetic is that?" Kate exclaimed.

I didn't believe that Sawyer would keep water from Claire, he might be a bit of an ass but he wouldn't do that. Surely he wouldn't. But as much as I told myself this I couldn't help that little bit of doubt that was whispering in the back of my mind.

"So…what's the plan?" I asked nervously.

"We follow Sawyer to his stash; we get the water for Claire" Sayid stated simply.

"Sun, Charlie and I will look around the camp for any water we can find" I assured him.

Kate and Sayid left and I reassured Claire that we wouldn't be long. We set off separately, scouring the beach for any fresh water that we could find. We knew the search was pointless; we'd kept all of the water in one place. But still I hoped that Charlie and Sun were having better luck with finding with water than I was. When I exhausted my section of the beach I headed back towards Claire. Before I got close, Sawyer, Kate and Sayid came out of the jungle towards me.

"He didn't have the water" Kate sighed.

Sawyer glared at her.

"What I'd tell you, Freckles?" Sawyer said, shrugging, "it wasn't me who stole your damned water"

That's when the shouting started. Charlie was shouting at someone, Boone. Confused, I ran towards the shouting voices, to where Claire was sitting, drinking from a bottle of water. Another bottle of water was in Boone's hand.

"You stole the water, Boone?" I accused, glaring at him and putting my hands on my hip, "why would you do that? Those bottles were for everyone, why would you be so selfish?"

Boone glared right back at me.

"I didn't steal them, and they certainly weren't for me. I was keeping them safe for everyone. What with the likes of him around" he sneered at Sawyer

It all kicked off then, Sawyer leapt in, swearing and shouting; followed by Sayid who tried to restrain Sawyer. All of a sudden everyone seemed to be involved in this mass brawl. I got an elbow – from who I don't know – rammed into my face, sending me sprawling onto my back. I looked up just as Jack walked out of the jungle.

"Hey" Jack yelled and almost immediately the fighting stopped "we need to stop fighting among ourselves. I've found fresh water, but if we can't live together, we're going to die alone"

He spoke a little more and people murmured their agreement; the news of water lifting everybody's moods. If only my cheek wasn't throbbing, and Sawyer was holding my hand; that would be much better. But I'd take what I could get.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for reviewing and adding me to story alerts :) Read and review!

Rachel x

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><p><span>Chapter 6 <span>

"It makes sense" I hedged "I agree with Jack. There's no point in lugging water from the caves to the beach all the time. At the caves we'd have access to water, shelter, everything we need"

"But if we move to the caves we'll have no chance of rescue, we wont be able to keep the signal fire burning" Boone interrupted.

"He has a point" Kate conceded "there will still be some who will want to move to the caves, people who feel safer on the beach"

"Well…" Jack said, drawing out his words as he made his choice, "I'm moving to the caves and anyone who wants to is more than welcome to come there with me"

"I'm going to the caves" I told them before standing up "I'll go pack my things"

I left the group to decide what they wanted to do. I walked up the beach to my tent and crawled inside. Sitting cross legged on the floor, I unpacked my clothes and toiletries from my suitcase and stuffed them into my rucksack and my carry on bag. I rolled up my blankets and scooted backwards out of my tent, my head still inside.

"What a view, Sunshine!" a voice exclaimed from behind me.

And because I'm an embarrassingly stupid idiot, I yelped, bounced upwards, caught my head in the canvas and fell backwards, taking the tent down with me. I was left sprawled in the sand. Sawyer uncharacteristically burst into a fit of laughter, doubled over and clutching his belly. I glared at him.

"Now that's a quicker way of taking the tent down" Sawyer quipped between guffaws.

"This is not funny, Sawyer" I groaned as I attempted to unravel myself from the tent.

I let out a frustrated whine/cry as my kicking and thrashing got me more and more entangled in the infrastructure of my tent.

"Want a hand?" Sawyer grinned.

He knelt down and yanked at the tarp that was tied to the sticks and metal. I blushed as he tried to untangle it; I'd used my underwear as rope. He chuckled as he held them up between his fore finger and thumb.

"You know what, Sunshine, I'm not even going to ask" he laughed.

"They're clean" I insisted.

He dropped my underwear to the floor and reached out towards me, I took his outstretched hand. His hand was warm in mine; he pulled me to my feet. I noticed he had a rucksack slung over is shoulder.

"Coming to the caves?" I asked him, nodding towards the bag.

"Fancied a change in scenery, I'm moving to the good doctor tent, he's moving house, you see?" Sawyer grinned.

My heart skipped a beat and plunged into the pot of my stomach, disappointment warping through me. I smiled through and patted Sawyer's arm once.

"I'll see you around, Sawyer" I said as way of goodbye.

I threw my pack onto my shoulder, and made to walk away. Suddenly my arm was yanked backwards by Sawyer. I didn't get time to say anything because before I could speak he had crushed his lips to mine. It was soft yet passionate and strong all at the same time. My pack slipped from my shoulder onto the floor. I entwined my hand in his hair as the other ran across his chest. His pack was on the floor too; his hands gripped my hips tightly. Only when I pulled away to breath did we stop.

"I'll be seeing you, Sunshine" Sawyer said, making an imaginary tipping of the hat gesture.

He walked away with that swagger of his. I seemed to be frozen to the spot. I brought my fingers to my lips; they felt like they'd been given an electric shock. I'd never felt that before, not with Nick, not with any other guy. Slowly, I picked my bag up off the sand and grabbed my carry on bag. I headed to where Jack and a group of others were waiting. Jack raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. I didn't say anything either.

When we arrived at the caves we unpacked as though we were in a hotel. Once I was sorted I helped Jack set up a fire.

"So" Jack began "what was that between you and Sawyer?"

I groaned, throwing myself down onto the floor and putting my head into my hands.

"I don't know" I whined "your guess is as good as mine"

Jack chuckled.

"Well, he doesn't strike me as the type who's big on commitment" Jack conceded.

"Nope" I groaned "urgh, why did he kiss me?"

Jack sat beside me, he patted my shoulder. I looked up and saw that he was fighting hard not to laugh at my predicament. I glared at him and gave his arm a thwack. He glared playfully back.

"What am I going to do, Jack? What are we all going to do? We're on an island God only knows where. What if we're stuck here for the rest of our lives, Jack? I don't think I can cope with that" I cried, my breath coming quicker and quicker and my voice getting higher and higher pitched.

Jack wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. I cried more than I expected to and when I balled my fist up in his shirt and covered his shoulder in tears Jack didn't pull away. He just hugged me until I finally gained some semblance of control.

After my crying jag was over, and the fire was roaring, Jack and I were joined around the fire by Hurley, Sun, Jin and a few other survivors. As we sat there, I told myself that everything was ok because we had fresh water now, and we had fruit and fish and shelter.

But even when I was thinking about the good things that we had on the island, I couldn't help but wonder about Sawyer. I kept picturing him, his face, him. What was he doing on the beach? Where was he now? Did he mean that kiss? Did he really mean it? I was determined to know.


	7. Chapter 7

_Here's chapter 7 of my Lost fanfic :) Thanks for reviewing and adding this to story alerts etc. I dont own Lost or any of the TV characters - although i would like to :D Please read and review! _

_Rachel x _

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><p><span>Chapter 7 <span>

The next day I ventured back down to the beach with Jack to bring some water for those who stayed behind. My rucksack was heavy, weighed down with bulky bottles of water.

"So" Jack started, striking up conversation, "where are you from?"

"I was born in California, but we moved around a lot when I was growing up. My dad was a Major in the army, we moved with him when he was stationed somewhere new. Usually we were somewhere in America but we went to Mexico, Cuba, Europe. We went all over the place really, never sticking to one place longer than six months till I was fifteen" I explained.

Jack courteously held a heavy branch out of my face and I smiled gratefully; I was really working up a sweat lugging these bottles through the jungle.

"Why'd you stop moving?" Jack asked.

I sighed.

"My mum died in a car accident. It was nobody's fault, just wrong place wrong time. My dad took it pretty hard, got himself chucked out of the army for his drinking" I said quietly.

"I know it is" Jack replied "my dad was a doctor, one of the best surgeons in the country, till he began hitting the bottle breakfast, lunch and dinner"

He smiled sadly and knowingly back at me. I returned his smile gratefully. He knew what I was talking about, he understood.

"Why were you in Sydney then?" Jack asked, trying to change to a better subject; it wasn't but he wasn't to know.

"I used to live there after my mum died, but I was visiting someone" I told him.

"Anyone nice?" Jack grinned, winking.

I shook my head and laughed, then looked full on at the back of his head as we walked.

"My daughter lives in Sydney" I told him quietly.

Jack stopped for a moment but soon carried on with his even walk through the jungle, I followed on behind him.

"Yeah?" he hedged "what's her name?"

"Leah Rose Biers" I said proudly.

"Nice name"

"Thanks, I like it".

It wasn't that I felt like he wouldn't understand. Jack was a doctor and my friend, this wouldn't matter to him. But I really didn't want to get into it with him now. Sensing that that was all I was going to say on the matter for now, Jack picked up the pace, and I changed the subject for us to avoid my own awkwardness.

"So…Kate…huh?" I teased.

"What about her?" Jack asked innocently.

"You so want her!" I laughed.

"Oh really? A bit like you want Sawyer!" Jack shot back, both of us laughing.

"You have no idea what you are talking about, Jack Shepherd"

"Is that so? That wasn't what you were saying in your sleep last night! In between calling for some celebrity punks, you kept talking about dear old Sawyer" he grinned.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed loudly, blushing deep red.

Jack guffawed, and from the look on his face I could tell that he was telling the truth; great, just great.

"Should my ears be burning?" Sawyer's Southern twang rang out as he stepped out in front of us, smirking.

He had heard us; great. Jack had stopped walking and was standing next to me, biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing. I kept my head down and blushed even more. God I hated my life sometimes.

"I'll be on the beach" Jack grinned, waving at me and winking in view of both Sawyer and I.

"So, I'm the man of your dreams, Sunshine?" Sawyer teased.

I didn't say anything, just glared at him. He laughed and puffed out his chest smugly. It annoyed me but I couldn't be mad.

"Do you want something, Sawyer?" I asked.

"Ollie, dear, the more important question is, do you want something from me?" he retaliated "because Doctor Jack seems to think so"

"I've got to take this water back to camp" I muttered, striding forwards.

Sawyer grabbed my hips, twisting me around and pulling me to him so that our faces were almost touching. I could feel his breath on my face. I loved the feeling our closeness.

"Sawyer…" I whispered.

He leaned in further and kissed me. My lips moved of their own accord. This thumbs rubbed against the skin that sat between my shorts and my vest top. I closed my eyes and let myself get caught up in the moment.

"What is this, Sawyer?" I asked, getting my breath back and resting my head against his muscular chest. Sawyer backed away from me a little.

"We are what we are Sunshine" Sawyer shrugged "nothing more nothing less".

"Right" I said

My heart seemed to sting and burn in my chest. My throat seemed to constrict and my eyes burned with tears. I strode forward towards the beach.

"Ollie" Sawyer called after me.

"No, Sawyer, it's fine, I get it. But I'm not going to be your little island distraction" I said, whirling around to face him.

I spun back around and walked out of the trees onto the beach.

I hid out on the beach on my own for a while, far away from any of the other survivors. I let myself cry. This was stupid, we'd known each other all of eight days and shared all of one kiss and here I was, being an idiot and crying. I should have realised that this didn't mean anything to him. It shouldn't have meant anything to me, but it did. I really liked Sawyer. I was attracted to him physically, but I'd also confessed things that I hadn't talked about to others on the island. I really had fallen for him, I was an idiot.

I was walking back to the beach when I saw everyone running around like maniacs. Confused, I ran to Boone to see what was going on, Sawyer wasn't far away.

"Boone, what's wrong?" I asked.

"There has been a cave-in at the caves, Jack's trapped. We're going to try and get him out" Boone explained glumly as he threw his pack on to his back. I turned reluctantly to Sawyer.

"Get Kate, no messing around, you get Kate" I told him firmly.

Before anyone could stop me, I was racing through the jungle to Jack. I powered my way through the jungle, pushing branches out of my way without stopping. I could hear pounding feet behind me but I didn't stop when I heard them either.

When I arrived at the caves there was already a small crowd forming. I gasped when I saw the small mountain of rubble. Jack was under there. There were a few people, including Jin, Sun and Charlie, who were shovelling rocks away.

"Wait" Michael called as he and Boone skidded to a halt beside me.

"I worked in construction" Michael explained "we need to be careful or the whole place could cave in"

It took us a while before we cleared enough rubble for us to hear Jack. And even then we could only clear a small hole.

"Who goes in?" Boone asked.

"I will, I'm only five four, I'll fit" I volunteered.

"Be careful" Michael instructed.

I smiled confidently, or as confidently as I could given the nature of the situation. I took a deep breath and got onto my hands and knees, crawling into the small hole that we had dug. I edged closer and closer in.

Just as I saw Jack ahead of me, the caves rumbled again. I braced myself, tensing up. I screamed as a sharp rock thudded against my back, along with a dozen others that bombarded my body. I could feel warm blood trickling from my head and I felt intense pain in my side. I bent around to see and extremely pointy rock sticking out of my side. Groaning in pain, I reached around and with shaking fingers pulled the offending object out.

"Oh, Jesus" I whimpered.

"Ollie? Is that you?" Jack called out.

"It's me" I called back, shuffling painfully forwards till I reached him.

His legs were trapped and he was clutching his shoulder. Immediately, despite the pain in my side and my head, I started removing the rubble from on top of Jack's legs. I was gasping for breath by the time I was finished.

"You're bleeding, Ollie" Jack stated.

"No way, Doc" I said sarcastically.

"My shoulder…is dislocated. I need you to reset it for me" Jack said.

"No, no way can I, Jack. I don't know what I'm doing" I protested.

"I'll walk you through it"

I grimaced but edged closer. He told me what I was supposed to do and I firmly took a hold of his shoulder and arm. I bit my lip.

"Ready?" I asked him.

"Do it" he said through gritted teeth.

As I reset his shoulder Jack let out a grown of pain, and when it was over I apologised profusely. Still In pain, but not quite so much, Jack sat up and looked around. Then I spotted it, a moth. It was fluttering around a specific spot, I crawled closer. There was light and a small, tiny, almost not there breeze.

"Help me move these rocks, Jack" I pleaded, already pulling at them.

Between us we managed to clear away the rocks enough so that we could fit through.

"After you" I grinned through the pain.

"Thanks" he laughed.

We crawled through the gap, the pain in my side almost unbearable. And we were out in the open, the leafy, green jungle all around us. Jack pushed himself to his feet and hobbled over to me, pulling me up to my feet. I clutched my side.

"A little help here please" Jack said as he dragged me to the entrance of the caves.

Kate leapt forwards to Jack and hugged him tight to her; it looked like she'd been crying. Sawyer sprang forwards too, catching me as I wobbled He held me to him fiercely before pressing his lips to mine. Even through my pain I felt the pleasure.  
>"I don't want you to be my island distraction" he whispered to me.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

_Please let me know what you think :) R&R_

_Rachel x _

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><p><span>Chapter 8 <span>

Once Jack was fashioned a sort of sling, he patched up my side and my head as best as he could. For my side he had to have Kate stitch me up. I have to admit that it was pretty daunting. She didn't have the steadiest of hands. Sawyer held my hand the entire time. It seemed to be familiar yet so new to me. I liked it. He was good in that he didn't look when Kate had to cut my top away to get to my wound. He looked at the trees, at my face, at anything till Kate helped me into a button up top. I took some Tylenol for the pain and that was that.  
>A few of us "cavies" slept in the jungle for the night; it was easier than carting everything down to the beach straightaway. There would be plenty of time the next day.<p>

I woke early the next morning, sunlight filtering down through the leafy roof of the jungle.

"Where do we go now? The caves aren't going to be habitable till we sort out that rubble" I said to Sawyer once he was awake too.

"Back to the beach, that's where all you cave dwellers are going" Sawyer grinned "you're all migrating back to the mother country"

"Well if that's the case you're going to have to get my stuff for me" I said, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

"Yes sir!" he replied humorously, saluting me.

I chuckled lightly and waited for him to finish packing my bits and pieces. When he was done I gestured for Sawyer to help me to my feet. Gently, he pulled me up and wrapped and arm carefully around my hips to support me.

"This may take a while" I muttered after hobbling painfully for the past ten minutes without getting very far.

Sawyer chuckled.

I was right when I said that it would take a while, in fact it took Sawyer and I nearly two hours to struggle through the jungle to the beach. The beach was a lot fuller now than it had been since we moved to the caves. As we arrived, tents were being reconstructed, and Jin was once again in the water, fishing.

"I don't mean to be a burden, Sawyer" I said "but can you help me rebuild my tent?"

Sawyer laughed.

"Polite today aren't we, Sunshine?" Sawyer replied, rolling his eyes, "you don't need to rebuild your tent, you can share with me"

I stopped walking and looked up at Sawyer who had stopped when I did. He looked nervous. I remembered what Jack had said about how Sawyer didn't strike him as being one for commitment.

"You want me to move in with you? Is that what you're saying? Because I find that pretty hard to believe" I exclaimed "you've known me all of nine days, we don't know anything about each other"

"It's hardly moving in with me, Ollie. It's a tent, not a mansion for God's sake. You know me as well as you need to"

"And that's why I'm not sharing your tent with you, Sawyer. I've had enough of secrets; I don't want to deal with yours too. So I'm going to find Jack or Kate, or anybody"

I turned on my heel and walked as quickly as I could down the beach.

"Ollie!" Kate called from her new tent.

I smiled grimly, trying to hold back the tears.

"Hey, what's wrong, Ol?" Kate asked me.

"Nothing" I muttered "can you help me set up a tent?"

"Yeah, course. I'll get Jack and Charlie to help too. It'll be up in no time"

"Thanks, I'd do it but…" I tried to apologise but Kate held her hand up to stop me.

"Don't worry about it, Ollie, we don't mind"

"You haven't even asked Charlie and Jack yet"

"Pffft" Kate scoffed "like they can resist this face"

I laughed as Kate struck a pose.

"Maybe Jack can't but I reckon Charlie's more interested in our expectant mother" I grinned.

I didn't like not being able to help Kate, Charlie and Jack set me up a tent. I felt bad for just standing there. I was thankful for the help though, not only because they did it for me but also because it was ten times as good as my original tent.

When it was done I gave each of my helpers a thank you hug before going for a walk down the beach to the water. I sat down, supporting my side, and put my feet into the gently lapping waves. They were warm and calm on my feet. I wiggled my toes. I screwed up my nose and grimaced at the sight of my toenails. The pink nail varnish was all chipped and messy. I'd have to see if Shannon had any going spare so that I could tidy them up a bit.

I rested my head on my knees and sighed, looking out at the beach. It was about midday and I was starting to get peckish. I stood up and started up the beach. As I got closer I could hear Boone, Sawyer, Jack, Sayid and Kate arguing.

"Just give us the inhalers, Sawyer!" Jack shouted.

Sawyer smirked.

"I don't have your damn inhalers" Sawyer responded.

"You ransacked the baggage, Sawyer. You've got a hoard of medicine, you've got Shannon's inhalers" Boone accused, jabbing his finger at Sawyer.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"He won't give us Shannon's inhalers" Kate said.

"Do you have them, Sawyer?" I asked him.

"No, I don't have the inhalers" Sawyer grumbled indignantly.

I narrowed my eyes and scrutinised his face. I folded my arms across my chest and he held my eyes for a moment. I turned to the others.

"He doesn't have the inhalers" I sighed, turning to walk away from them.

"And we're supposed to just take his word for it?" Sayid demanded.

"Believe what you want, Sayid" I shrugged "I'll be helping out at the caves if you want me"

I walked away into the jungle. The pain medication Jack had me on was pretty strong, it was good at numbing the pain, but it made my brain feel a bit fuzzy. I knew that there wasn't much I could do at the caves, but I might've been able to do something to help.

When I got to the caves, Charlie and a bunch of the others were working under Michael's supervision. I smiled at him as I approached. The cave was looking good, I'd be able to move back in soon.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked Michael.

"Nah; we're pretty much done here" Michael responded.

Rather than go back to the beach, I sat down on the floor of the cave out of the way of the others. I was glad that Jack and the others weren't here too. I wasn't in the mood for any inhaler related drama.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Jack pitched up at the caves with Sayid to help with the cave work. I ignored them and kept my position on the floor. That was until Boone came crashing through the jungle with Shannon on his arm. She was pale and struggling to breathe. She was sucking in hoarse, ragged breaths.

"Oh God, Shannon" I said, shooting to my feet and ignoring the pain it caused.

I stumbled over to where she had slumped onto a rock. Jack rushed over to her too.

"Just try and breathe, Shannon" Jack instructed, he knelt down in front of her.

He held onto her hands and made her copy him. Together they breathed in and out slowly until she managed to regain some normality in her breathing. Sayid and Jack shared a long look before Jack stood up.

"Watch her for me, Ol" Jack asked.

"Of course I will" I agreed "where are you going?"

"I've just got some stuff to do, Ollie. I'll be back soon, just try to keep her calm and keep her breathing"

"No pressure there, Jack" I muttered.

I watched as Jack disappeared with Sayid back towards the beach. I stayed with Shannon and Boone, helping to keep Shannon calm, but her breathing was getting worse and worse. I tapped my fingers reflexively on the ground. What was going on? Where were Jack and Sayid? What would I do if Shannon got any worse? These thoughts kept swirling around in my head until I had finally decided that enough was enough.

"I'm going to go find Jack" I told Boone "I'll be back soon"

Dread was filling my stomach and I just knew that something was wrong. I raced as fast I could through the jungle, clutching my side. As I got closer I heard a scream. It was Sawyer's. I gasped and made myself thunder through the trees faster. The pain was killing me but I pushed it to the back of my mind.

That's when I saw Sayid; Sayid torturing Sawyer. I saw Sawyer move and the knife went into his arm. Sawyer screamed once more as blood spurted out of his arm. Jack cursed and jumped forwards, pressing down hard on Sawyer's arm.

"Sawyer!" I cried, crashing down next to him, tears pouring down my face.

"Give me something for his arm" Jack yelled.

I pulled off my top, leaving me in my polka dot bikini top that I'd lifted from a dead woman's case. I handed it over to jack. He pulled it tight around Sawyer's arm. Sawyer groaned in pain. He sent Sayid to get his medical supplies from the caves. I held Sawyer's hand tightly. His face was pasty pale.  
>"He's hit an artery" Jack muttered to himself.<p>

"Can you fix it? Will he be ok?" I asked.

"He's going to be fine, Ol. I promise"

We waited anxiously until Sayid skidded back into the tent with the bag full of medical supplies. Hack set to work. I leant closer to Sawyer. His jaw was clenched in pain.

"I'm sorry, Ol" Sawyer groaned "I'll tell you everything I promise "

"Hey! Don't worry about it" I laughed through my tears "no death bed apologies, Sawyer. Jack's nearly done, we're both going to be invalids together, ok?"

When Jack was done he gave Sawyer a sedative that would make him sleep till the morning. He fashioned a sling for Sawyer then disappeared with Sayid. He looked mad and guilty. I heard them shouting.

I lay down next to Sawyer, curling up next to him and wrapping my arms around him. I closed my eyes, sucked in a deep, steadying breath and went to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

_I'm so sorry that its taken so long but i'm finally updating and i'm posting TWO chapters :D please review! _

Rachel x

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

When I woke up the next morning, Sawyer was already awake. He was sitting up and I was lying across his chest.

"Morning, Sunshine" Sawyer drawled.

I shot up off Sawyer's chest and ran my fingers through my bird's nest hair. Sawyer's arm was in its sling.

"How's your arm?" I asked him

"Feels like I've been stabbed" Sawyer said dryly.

"I can get Jack to give you some tablets, I'll go get him for you" I mumbled, starting to get up. Sawyer grabbed my wrist.

"No, stop your worrying, Ol" Sawyer chuckled.

When Sawyer finally finished talking he looked up to me meet my eyes, they were filled with genuine sadness and pain and a little bit of relief. In the past hour or so he'd confessed a lot about himself, about the real "Sawyer and what this had done to his family. It was strange to hear that he was a bit like me, keeping something in his pocket, something important; the difference was that mine was a picture of my baby girl and his was a letter to a man who'd conned his mother and caused the breakdown of his entire family.

I was a little freaked by his criminal life before the crash, but everyone has a past, right? Or at least that's what I told myself. What about me? I had one hell of a past. No matter how many times I told myself that Sawyer would be bad news, I wasn't going to be persuaded otherwise, whether it is by others or by myself.

"I know what I've done is wrong, Ollie, so I understand if you can't forgive me for how I've treated you"

"Shut up Sawyer. We're on a desert island in the middle of nowhere, where there are polar bears and God only knows what else" I said "I don't know what's going to happen, Sawyer, but I really want to give this a shot"

"Me too" he said quietly.

"Good" I giggled.

He wrapped his arm around me and secured me to him, pressing his lips to my forehead. I hugged him to me for a while before I sat up and frowned.

"We should go back to the caves to see if Shannon's feeling any better" I sighed "I just left her yesterday to come find you"

"Come on then, let's go check on Barbie" Sawyer grinned.

He pushed himself up on his arm and then he was on his feet. He dragged me up to mine. It was a nice day on the beach; it was pretty sunny but a little muggy. Thankfully it wasn't raining. That was one of the worst things about the island. We often suffered from random flashes of heavy rainfall.

"Hey, Shannon! How're you feeling?" I asked as we arrived at the caves.

She looked better, she had a bit more colour in her cheeks. She was sitting on some rocks with Dee, another survivor. She still looked a little frail and a bit worse for wear.

"Better. Sun found a plant in the jungle – eucalyptus I think – anyway she gave me that and I can breathe more now"

"That's good, look, I'm sorry for disappearing on you yesterday"

"Its fine, Dee and Boone stayed with me" Shannon smiled.

Kate turned up not much later as many of sat around the fire cooking Jin's fish on a stick. She looked pretty grim but not completely past it. I sighed, I knew whatever it was would be bad but not oh my God someone else has died type of bad.

"Sayid has left" Kate said as she accepted some fish that Jack had offered her "he's gone to map the island or something"

"Good" I muttered under my breath.

I was angry for what he had done to Sawyer; in fact I was furious with him. But really, deep down inside, I hadn't wanted him to leave the group. Out there, on his own, he was bound to get killed. And I wasn't that angry. Sawyer squeezed my hand and I leaned into him, not on his bad arm though.

"I think I want to stay here tonight, there's hardly anyone at the beach and I don't really want to leave Shannon tonight, I've already left her once" I murmured to Sawyer.

He smirked.

"I'm sure I can survive one night amongst the unwashed masses" he chuckled.

"Oi!" I laughed, giving him a hard slap on his good arm, " we don't smell"

"Well…I wasn't going to say anything, but…" he joked.

I glared at him and he grinned.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we walked into the caves. We set up some towels on the floor of the caves to sleep on. We lay down on the floor beside each other in silence, and he pulled me close. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Night, Sawyer"

"Night, Ol"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 

"Arrrggghh" a scream ripped through the air.

I shot up and glanced around, the flickering fire lighting up the night sky. Everyone else was shooting up too. Claire was screaming and clutching at her belly. I lashed back the blanket and hurriedly half crawled half ran to her. Jack was right there too, and everyone was watching and hovering around her unsure of how to act.

"My baby" she screamed "they're trying to steal my baby!"

I rested my hands on top of hers and stilled her. Her breathing was going haywire, she was panting and tears were rolling down her face. Sobs racked through her body.

"Claire" I whispered " you're ok, you're ok, you were dreaming"

"No, no…it wasn't a dream…there was a man…and a needle…he was trying to steal my baby" Claire insisted.

"Claire, let me see your stomach" Jack said quietly.

Reluctantly, she moved her hands away from her belly. Jack lifted her vest higher so that he could the whole of the swollen expanse. Thankfully, the light emitted by the few was good enough for Jack to see what he was doing. Even I could see that there was nothing there. Michael knelt down beside us, trying to comfort Claire as her ferocious sobs racked her body .

Charlie and Hurley went off to look around the immediate jungle area, and my heart was beating so fast and heavy that I worried it would fail.

"There's nothing there, Claire" Jack sighed "it was just a dream, try drinking some water and go back to sleep. Your baby's fine"

"No, it was real" she whispered.

"I'll stay with you, Claire, come on, try and sleep" I murmured.

Claire looked like she wanted to protest but I pulled the blankets around her and pushed her shoulders to the ground. She didn't close her eyes, just lay there with a look of pain and fear on her face.

"I'll be back in a minute, Claire" I mumbled "try and sleep"

I stood up and walked to where Hurley, Jack, Charlie and Sun were standing. Sawyer came to stand beside me.

"There's nothing on her stomach" Jack confirmed to the others.

"We couldn't see anything in the jungle either" Hurley said.

"Claire wouldn't make it up" Charlie insisted "if she says someone was trying to hurt the baby, then someone was trying to hurt the baby"

"No-one's saying that she's a liar, Charlie. But it's just a dream, pregnancy does that to you. All your worries come out in them. She's just panicking" I sighed "just make sure we all keep an eye on her, just in case we're wrong"

"And what would you know?" Charlie hissed at me.

I tensed up and glared at him.

"I have a daughter" I told him savagely "I know what I'm talking about"

That shut everyone up, Sun, Hurley and Charlie's eyebrows shot up nearly into their hair.

"I'll be with Claire" I mumbled.

"Hey, wait up" Sawyer said, holding onto my waist.

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about her, you know? I know how hard it is, being young and pregnant. She needs someone to be there for her, even if its only help with a bad dream" I explained heavily.

"Tell me about it, about your baby, and everything" Sawyer implored.

I smiled at him.

"I will tell you, but right now I'm going to bed. I'll tell you tomorrow" I said, planting a soft kiss on his lips "night"

"Night, Ollie"

I crawled under the blanket next to Claire and closed my eyes. Claire's eyes were now shut but her forehead was screwed up in concentration and her shoulders were squared and tensed.

I blinked hard, fighting the disorientation that swarmed me. You'd think that after sixteen days on the island that I'd be used to waking up on the island, but it was still strange and unsettling when I woke up not knowing where I was.

When the feeling settled, I sat up and looked to Claire, who had gotten up and was sitting next to the fire by herself. Sawyer was sitting opposite her. I smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss.

"How're you feeling, Claire?" I asked, taking a quick swig from a bottle of water.

"Ok I guess" Claire shrugged, but I could tell she was still worried, scared and confused.

As I sat with Claire and Sawyer, eating some island variety of fruit, Charlie walked through the clearing of trees. He sat down next to Claire They talked quietly to each other.

"Come on Sawyer. Let's go down to the beach" I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet.

"We'll be at the beach if you need us" I told them, squeezing Claire's hand as we passed.

"Should we be leaving her?" Sawyer asked me.

I grinned at him.

"So you do have a caring bone in your body?" I joked "Charlie's with her, she'll be fine"

We walked down through the jungle quietly, talking about our strange sort of life on the island. When we reached the beach, we were stopped by Hurley. He had a pencil in his hand, the passenger manifest.

"Hey, Ollie, Sawyer" Hurley greeted "I'm doing a census; we need to know who's a survivor and who we all are. It's about time we found out the basics about each other, just in case"

It was a good idea; what with the deaths that had already occurred, and the deaths that unfortunately might still happen, we needed to know more about the each other. Claire's and Boone's speech at the burning of the fuselage proved just how little we knew about each other.

"That's a great idea, Hurley" I smiled.

"Yeah, so…can I ask you a few questions?" Hurley asked.

"Um, ok" I mumbled.

Hurley brought the pencil to the manifest and found my name. Olivia Mae Biers.

"Eighteen, I'm nineteen in just under a month" I answered.

"Where are you from?"

"I was born in California but I've moved around a lot, North America, South America, Europe, Australia"

"Marital status in the outside world"

"Single" I sighed.

How personal were these questions going to be? Jeez, it was like the Spanish inquisition and Oprah rolled into one.

"Children?"

I scuffed my foot in the sand.

"I have a daughter, Leah" I admitted.

"Job?"

"I was a waitress"

"Right, that's it, thanks Ol"

Quickly, Sawyer answered his twenty questions. Them, as Hurley walked away towards the others back the way he came, Sawyer led me towards a cluster of rocks further around the beach out of the way of the "crowds".

"Does Leah live in Sydney?" Sawyer asked me as we sat down.

"Just outside of Sydney" I sighed.

"And she doesn't live with you?"

I shook my head.

"No, not since she was five months old" I confessed "she lives with a real nice family, or she did when I got on the place, they have three kids of their own so she's never lonely, they give her a good life"

"You had her adopted?" Sawyer summarised.

"No, she was taken from me by the child services in Sydney. I had postpartum depression, I was alone, no family to speak of, or at least none that wanted anything to do with a pregnant sixteen year old. I had no job, no friends, and no money. Leah's dead didn't have anything to with me, he gave me a cheque for a couple of hundred dollars and left. Leah was a colicky baby, she just wouldn't stop crying, and everything I did seemed to make it worse. I was a wreck, not sleeping or eating. I went to the doctor but they said it was just the baby blues; that my hormones were just a little out of sync what with just giving birth, but I knew there was more to it. Eventually the doctor took me seriously; he stuck me on a whole load of medication and asked child services to come check me out, to make sure I was a fit mother"

Sawyer squeezed my hand and nodded for me to continue. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt sick, nausea radiated in the depths of my stomach. The feelings of fear, isolation and shame welled up inside me just like they had at the time. Memories of Leah screaming, me crying, not knowing what I was supposed to do to make everything ok, made my throat catch and my fingernails dig into the palm of my hand.

"The lady said that she could see I loved Leah, but that it was obvious I wasn't coping. She said that she had to take Leah into foster care while I sorted myself out I said quietly "after a few months of therapy and sorting myself out in Sydney, I got a job at a bar in Melbourne, I did some part time courses. I tried to come to Sydney and visit Leah as much as I could, but I couldn't afford to come that often. It was good being away from Sydney in a sense, it helped me get my life back on track. It took me a while but I did it. I still didn't have much money but I could support us both. I was back in Sydney visiting Leah and I was scheduled for a hearing with child services to sort out Leah coming back to live with me. I was only coming to L.A. to see my dad's sister, Deidra, we hadn't heard anything from her in years, but then she rings me up out of the blue, asks me to come see her and offers to pay for my plane ticket. She said it was important. But obviously I never got there and Leah's still in Sydney, probably part of adoption proceedings by now"

"If I'd been a better mom, if I wasn't…me…then Leah would be with me and we'd be happy. And now my only shot at getting my daughter back is gone. I'm such a crap mom, I'm a bad mother, Sawyer. She's going to grow up and hate me!" I cried.

I sniffed and swiped at the constant flow of tears, a little sob caught on my throat. I'd never told anyone this. It had been my cross to bear for so long, it seemed so strange to share the burden.

"Come here" Sawyer mumbled, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me to his chest "you are not a bad mom, you had a rough time of it, sure, but you turned yourself around, didn't you? You were going to get her back, that proves that child services saw you as a good parent"

"I miss her so much, Sawyer" I whispered.

"I know, Ol" he murmured back, kissing me "and when we get off this island you'll see her again"

With tears running down my cheeks, his arm bandaged but no longer in a makeshift sling and my side all taped up and stiff, I kissed him with all the passion and feeling that I felt for him. His hands pulled at my shirt and I let him yank it off. I smiled into his shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11

_I'm sorry that it had been so long - but thank you for sticking with me! Please let me know what you think!_

_Rachel x _

Chapter 11

There were a group of us sitting outside the newly "refurbished" caves. A small fire was burning brightly; a few people had fish on a stick and were cooking it over the flames. It was late afternoon and those sitting at the fire were relaxing. It had been a pretty rough day on us all and everyone, including myself, were feeling emotionally and physically drained.

Michael was leaning against a tree with a notepad and pencil in his hand. From where I was sitting it looked like he was sketching something. Walt was asleep next to him, his arm around Vincent's sleeping form. It was sweet how attached Walt was to Vincent; they weren't just dog and owner, it was like they were friends.

Kate was inside the caves, I could see her knelt down on the cave floor and she washed her hair in the flowing water. My god that water was cold but how good it felt when had clean hair! She kept glancing around. I smiled to myself; it was obvious that she was looking for Jack. I wasn't sure where Jack was, probably down the beach with some of the other survivors.  
>Shannon was painting her nails a vibrant pink, she stretched her arm out and appraised each individual finger nail as though it were a work of art. I glanced down at my own nails. Shannon had filed the all neatly, buffed them to make them shiny, and had painted them a metallic blue. They looked really nice, almost like I'd had them done professionally by a proper manicurist.<p>

I was sat against a tree, reading one of the many books that Sawyer had acquired since we'd arrived on the island. It should have probably angered me that he was stockpiling thing her found that really should have been put aside for communal use, but I wasn't. It was part of his allure really, his general bad-boy-ness. I liked it. And I knew if anyone really needed something that Sawyer had then he would give it to them, he wasn't really that bad a guy after all, people just didn't get him.

Sawyer himself was down on the beach, adding more wood to Sayid's signal fire. He'd been keeping it going ever since Sayid left. Sayid was back now, and I was worried that Sawyer would kick of at Sayid for what he'd done to him. Sawyer promised me that he wouldn't though. I was torn over whether or not to go find Sawyer, to keep an eye on him. But then I realised how stupid that sounded. I wasn't going to be the possessive control freak girlfriend, I was going to trust him.

We were all just sitting there, minding our own business, enjoying the fact that it wasn't raining in the jungle right now. We heard the crunch of feet on fallen leaves, plant roots and twigs. It sounded like someone was running. An ominous feeling rolled through my stomach. Locke burst through the trees, panting.

"Claire..and Charlie…they've been taken!" Locked exclaimed.

"What? Who by?" Boone asked.

"Ethan! He wasn't on the plane, he was already here on the island" Locke explained hurriedly "Jack's looking for them now, on his own. We need to get after them quickly!"

"I'm in" Kate stated immediately.

"Me too" Boone agreed.

"And me" I said, standing up.

Locke nodded and we simultaneously began grabbing our rucksacks, filling them with torches, water, etc. I even grabbed one of thee plane's first aid kits. I saw Locke slip a knife into his bag and another into the pocket of his tan walking trousers.

"We want to help look for Claire too" Michael said, Walt agreed with an strong nod of his head.

"Stay with Walt" I told him with a said smile "if Ethan can overpower Claire and Charlie then this is too dangerous for a child".

Michael nodded, telling us that he'd go to the beach and let the others know what had happened. Walt hugged me tight and Michael patted my arm supportively.

"Let's go" Locke said.

We moved quickly, wanting to find Claire and Charlie, but also wanting to catch up with Jack; no-one wanted another person to get hurt. I swear I could hear the tick tick tick of a clock in my head and every time I blinked I could see an hourglass in my mind. The sand rushing through as time ran out.

It actually didn't take that long to find Jack, it turned out that he'd been running in circles, failing to find Ethan's trail, or Charlie and Claire. As soon as Kate spotted Jack she rushed over and hugged him tight. Jack's face changed, I wouldn't say it lit up but it sort of radiated a little. I looked away; it seemed to private a moment for me to intrude on. The moment was soon over and Jack's face went cold and hard.

"We need to find them" Jack said, whirling on his heel and walking away.

"Hey!" shouted Locke "I need to get the trail first"

Jack stopped and turned around, glaring.

"We don't have time! Charlie and Claire could be hurt, they could be dying! Don't you get that? We need to find them? Jack shouted bitterly, closing his eyes and pressing his hand over his mouth.

"No, Jack. We need a trail, we might spend hours going around in circles if we don't!" I said quietly, touching Jack's arm.

Jack nodded reluctantly folding his arms tightly over his chest. He stood in the background, his face hard like a rock. Kate followed Locke as he hunted for the trail. I stood next to Jack and squeezed his hand.

"It's better this way, there's no point wandering around with no direction "I said.

"I know"

"Are you ok, Jack? You seem...well it seems stupid to say…but angry. I mean angrier with yourself rather than Ethan" I tried to explain.

"I should have believed Claire. I just though that it was a nightmare, I should have believed her!" Jack admitted.

"You can't blame yourself Jack. I'm as much to blame as anybody. I was the one who put it down all down to the pregnancy. I was the one who left her with Charlie so that I could go with Sawyer. I was the one who was…enjoying myself, loving someone while she was being taken!" I cried "I promised to look after her; I promised her, Jack! It's my fault"

Jack wrapped his arms around me, holding me close as I cried.

"It's not your fault, you didn't know. You thought she was safe, you couldn't have known. You didn't abandon her" he told me consolingly.

"Thanks" I mumbled and he smiled.

"Anytime"

"Jack!" Locke shouted.

We pulled away and I wiped my eyes. We ran to where Kate, Locke and Boone were. Locke was crouched, looking down at something on the floor. Jack and I crouched down beside him. The "L" of Charlie's fingerbands was in the dirt.

"This way" Locke said, standing up and striding away, hopefully towards Claire and Charlie.


End file.
